And All the King's Horses
by Icarusy
Summary: [SasuSaku] Oneshot songfict. She's dying, and all he can do is hold her and watch...


**A/N**

Wotcher. My first songfict.

The song is "Stay" by Tonya Mitchell. Amusingly enough, I have never heard the song nor know who the singer is. I just randomly chose the most appropriate lyrics by Google, messed them up and used it. Personally, I think this works better than chosing some random famous song but heck.

* * *

- 

-

She's dying, they told him. She asked for you.

And they released him from his chains and brought him to her room. Their eyes were cold, angry, when they left him. But they still loved her enough to break their precious protocol, to wait outside.

Inside was just a bed, and her.

_-_

___I must have been blind, _

___not to see you look away from me..._

_-_

She was dying, like they said. They had told him why.

One green eye stood out amid the red and white bandages. He limped over and stood watching over her. She didn't smile hopefully or call out his name as she would in the past. She stopped that years ago, even before he left.

He had convinced himself he didn't miss it.

_-_

___I must have been crazy,_

___not to see you slip away from me..._

_-_

Sakura.

She was like her name, fragile and weak. Even when she grew stronger, she had still cried whenever he turned her away, always done in cold contempt.

Go away, silly girl. I'll never return your feelings.

It always only took a few words to break down the hardened jounin mask she had created. She became a young girl again whenever he was with her- so hopeful, so foolish. He later heard she joined Anbu because of him, trading her weakness for a real mask. He told her he didn't care when she asked.

_-_

___Day after day, there's a space for me to fill, _

___and I can't find the words..._

_-_

But now the real Sakura was wilting; her petal hair a stiff and matted maroon and a dullness in the lone green eye. She was still watching him, her dim eye unreadable for once. He could smell the stench of blood and drugs they pumped into her. They should have known better.

She was already broken.

_-_

___With all we've been through, _

___I'd never thought I'll be losing you _

___and I would give everything to keep you here again..._

___-_

She smiled at him then, but it was faint, and sad. He knew it would be the last time he would see her smile.

"I'm dying, you know."

Her voice was soft and slurred from the drugs.

"I know."

He knew she couldn't live more than a few hours.

"Why did you come back?"

He didn't answer.

Her words hung in the silent, empty room, thickening the memories already there. She smiled again, bitterly, self-mockingly, and tilted her head up at him.

"...I still love you."

He closed his eyes before she could see what he had always hid. "I know."

_-_

___Been spending my time,_

___trying to remind you of our love _

___but you keep pulling away at every touch..._

_-_

She was coughing now, scarlet staining the sheets. He ignored the sharp burst of pain in his side as he leaned down painfully to slip his hand under her head to lift it. Anko and her team had been thorough in their interrogation with him.

She was still struggling to breathe through the crimson rivers choking through her lips so he slowly pulled her upright and held her against him. He was blinded with agony for a few seconds while his abused body screamed from his exertion, but the pain subsided enough for him to see again. Her breaths were coming raggedly now, but there were at least coming.

Heavy internal bleeding, he surmised distantly. So severe that even the Hokage couldn't save her. A specially modified high-energy attack would do that.

One green eye opened up at him again as if in response, bright with reawaken fever.

She was so close that his own matted dark hair was touching her.

_-_-

___With all we've been through, _

___I'd never thought I'll be losing you_

___-_

"Sasuke... kun..."

_-_

___and I would give everything to keep you here again..._

_-_

He was wrong. Her eyes were not bright with fever, but with unshed tears- tears he had always hated to see.

So she was crying because of him for the last time, for all he had done.

"Don't cry...," he said, clumsily trying to erase her years of hurt with gingerly stroking fingers. "I'm here."

After all he had done, his words were an abomination.

_-_

___And when its all said and done..._

_-_

"I don't want to die."

The words were whispered, fearful of what they might mean. What could he say to that?

He rocked her gently, his back on fire. A broken boy whispering to a broken girl, alone in the dim whiteness of the room.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

_-_

___You'll be the only one..._

_-_

Evening came too soon; he could already see the uncaring stars coming out from the blue hush through the bars of the small window.

His body was numb from the strain of holding her for so long. She would choke up parts of her red life sporadically, and he could feel her getting weaker each time. And each time, there was the same burning guilt, the same aching bitterness, the same helpless anger.

Didn't he tell her to leave him alone? Didn't she know it had always been for her own good? She hadn't supposed to be there. So it was all her fault she was dying now...

But he had lied to himself for so long he found he no longer believed what he told himself. Especially not when, in her dying hours, she still tried to bury her tears in his shoulder. The shoulder that had always turned away when he knew she needed him.

Silly girl, foolish girl. Didn't she realize she deserved so much more?

But she still thought she needed him, for the last time, and he found he no longer had the strength to refuse.

_-_

___Even when there's nothing left for us to say..._

-

It was over.

He couldn't save her anymore. She was drawing in her last ragged breaths, her chest heaving against his. It was a miracle she had survived for so long.

She was afraid, he could see it in her single eye, could feel it in the way she trembled as she held on to him. He prayed she couldn't see his own terror. He had to be strong enough for both of them.

-

___Even if we go our separate ways..._

-

"Sasuke-kun?"

Her drugged voice was frightened, urgent. And he was helpless to do anything. With all his powers and jutsus, he couldn't turn back time.

_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I swear I didn't know._

He tried to hold her tighter, to comfort her, but his numb arms wouldn't obey. He was almost out of chakra.

"Sasuke... can you... will you... miss me?"

So she was afraid of more than one thing, still. His grief, suppressed for too long, caught in his throat and he couldn't speak.

So he didn't.

-

___I can never say goodbye..._

_-_

He kissed her.

It was different from one he gave before he left- gentler, with the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. He kissed her for the times they never had, for the years he had wasted, for the tears she had cried. It was bitter, bitter, and sweet all at once.

He could feel her lips curve in surprise, feel her respond, feel her trembling fade. He could see her beautiful lone green eye almost sparkle before she closed it, never to open again. And even when he could feel her body grow limp and her arms drop listlessly to her side, he didn't stop kissing her.

He didn't want to know that for once, she had left him.

-

___In my heart, you'll always stay..._

-

They found them later- the pink-haired Anbu and the S-classed criminal that had been her target to capture. She had died smiling softly, and he had died with her cradled in his arms.

Fatal chakra depletion, it was diagnosed, combined with severe beatings from his interrogation. He had used too much chakra of his already limited supply to lengthen her living hours.

_-_

___In my heart..._

-

It was late autumn when they buried them.

They mourned for the death of one of the village's most promising young kunochi, and carved her name on the memorial. But against tradition, the Anbu mask that she had worn when the fatal blow was struck was quietly, carefully, left out of her casket. Silently, they all knew it had been the anonymity of the mask that killed her.

For her killer, even though the village had long disowned him, they still gave him a simple, respectable grave fitting for the final demise of the ancient Uchiha clan. And though no one said it, they also did it because they pitied him.

The poor, broken children of Konoha. Maybe now, together at last, they could finally heal.

_-_

___...you'll always stay..._

_-_

* * *

A/N: Hope that passed the cut- like I said, this is my first songfict. Actually, I dislike songfics in general, which would explain why my brain would betray me and send out another to join the already swelled ranks in the ffworld. Damn. 

Reviews much appreciated, concrit welcome and all feedback loved. XD


End file.
